Veterans Day snow brings slush ice and wrecks

Today ‘s snow brought some very slick road conditions. The wet snow caused a number of slide offs and delays throughout the El Paso and Teller County roadways, especially along I-25.

Even though this isn’t their first go around some Colorado Springs drivers were still caught off guard.

“The driving conditions surprised me,” said driver and plower, Sonny Lebo.

Lebo was plowing snow in parking lots all morning long.
“When I left the house this morning we only had two inches,” said Lebo. “When I got to work, there was like five six inches.” CDOT officials say roads were pretreated yesterday, and all crews were called out to work this morning . Many plows used anti-skid or sand as snow began to accumulate on the roads. However, the wet and icy snow still led to wrecks.

For instance, a semi truck jack-knifed while heading northbound along Interstate 25 just south of Woodmen Road.

“Apparently the story is the driver lost control, hit the left guard rail and bounced back over,” said Kevin Ducy a Public Information Officer for the Colorado Springs Fire Department, who was on the scene. “The driver regained control and was able to pull it off onto the right side of the highway.” For Colorado Springs drivers, today ‘s snow is a wake up call for what’s to come. “Most people who live here. This isn’t their first go around. Nothing new. Just do what you do,” said Adrian Sagasta, who has lived in the Colorado Springs area for decades. “I get all my vehicles ready in October,” said Mark Jackson, who was driving all the way to Denver Sunday with his family. “We got everything in these vehicles so whenever it hits our vehicle is ready.” However, any driver, whether they are from Colorado or not, can get mixed up on the slick roadways. “You can catch your tires in the slush when everyone is pushing you to the side of the road and it’s real easy to lose it,” said Ducy. “Drivers will over-correct, and that’s what causes more of the problem.” CDOT crews say they’ve a seen a large number of vehicles driving too fast for these road conditions. They believe that’s the reason for a number of these slide offs, along with the slushy and icy conditions.

They are also asking for drivers to give as much room to the plows as they can.